Possibly moving to the Columbus area

[SuzyLee]

Any Columbus area mamas?

DH has a job offer coming in Columbus.  He is from Cleveland (as are my IL's yay for me!) but hasn't lived in OH for 20 years so really, we are both going in blind.  Assuming the offer comes, we are pretty much 100% sure we will take it and move from MN.

Now, here is an airing of my concerns, if anyone has thoughts on them!

1.  The job will be in Granville, which I guess is like a 30 min drive outside of Columbus?  So we are thinking we would like to live in an eastern suburb.  New Albany seems the closest, but it seems super rich/fancy/golf course-y.  Where do the hippies live?  Where are the co-ops?  I'm thinking not in New Albany.

2.  Schools.  DS4 is special needs, currently has an IEP and gets speech/OT/PT.  If I just had "normal" kids I wouldnt worry so much, but we have seen firsthand that living in a "rich" district gets him way better and more services than living in a crap district.  Which makes that whole New Albany thing seem appealing.  OTOH, do I really want my kids going to school with people whose parents can afford an average of 400K house?  Speaking of which how would we ever afford to live there?

3.  Do you like the Columbus area in general?  What is the good, the bad, and the ugly? 

4.  Are there lots of crunchy mamas?  I am not super-crunchy, but basically 100% of my current friends are from the API group in the twin cities, so I am very very sad about leaving friends, and I want to make sure I can find a new community.

5.  Birth.  We are thinking about #3 in the very near feature.  I had a lovely hosp birth with DS4 (hosp has only 12% c/s rate, I had a waterbirth, etc).  HB with DD2.  What is the birth climate in OH as a whole, and columbus specifically?  nat-birth friendly hospitals?  

TIA!  I am excited about the move despite all the scary parts.  I just can.not wrap my head around how we are going to ever pack up and sell our house in order to get there!  

[PrettyHippie]

Hello!  So I figured I would chime on a few parts since I may be able to help.  We live about 30 minutes south of Columbus out in the country, but we have a lot that brings us into the city.  New Albany is just as you described.....lots of money and lots of the rich attitude.  Now that being said, I'm sure there are many very nice people there.  If you're looking for somewhere a bit more crunchy, I would look into Clintonville, Westerville, or GrandVIEW.  Now, all of these neighborhoods have money to them too, but they're a bit older and the attitudes are different.  Clintonville has a co-op even!!  Now, you DH's drive would be longer.  Westerville would be the closest and is on the northeastern side of Columbus.  All of these neighborhoods would give you access to the education needs your children need, too.  On the topic of midwives, our midwife is located in Heath which is about 15 to 20 minutes from Granville actually.  So, she wouldn't be TOO far from where your DH will be working.  There are the CHOICE midwives in Worthington which is located in the north-central part of Columbus also.  We did our birthing classes through them before DD and liked them a lot.  I will warn you, the hospitals in the Columbus area are not very homebirth friendly and our CS rates are higher here....for whatever reason.  Most doctors in this area are VERY by the medical book.  I hope someone else can chime in with something positive to say about this.  At least there are some wonderful midwives in this area and in the event you would have to go to the hospital, Grant Hospital tends to be the most homebirth-mom friendly.  It's downtown and I have firsthand experience with them.  Hmmm.....what else to say.....Oh!  In general, Columbus is okay.  I will tell you, the general atmosphere here is different from where you are.  We're actually considering a move to Wisconsin to kind of get away from it!  We've spent a lot of time up in your area (Mom is from up there) and the attitudes about the environment, other people, money, personal freedoms.....it's just different.  There are good aspects to Ohio too though, please don't get me wrong!  I'm sure you can find a nice little new community of Mom's with the same mindset.  Actually, all my fellow crunchy mom's live in Westerville.  There are a lot of natural minded people in that area.  Plus, it's a college town.  There is a smaller private college in Westerville.  This has been a totally unorganized response!  Please just PM me if I can help you in any way.  I've been in this area my whole life so I've learned a thing or two!  Good luck and best wishes!!

[SuzyLee]

First of all, rereading, it should say DS(4) as in age 4, not my 4th DS :)

Thank you so much for the response.  Very helpful!  Do you know anything about Newark?  It seems appealing bc it is so close to Granville, but I am more of a city person, so it might be a bit too rural.  

The location of Clintonville seems so nice!  Very centrally located and right near the U.  But I wonder what the commute would be.

What is traffic like in general in Columbus?

How do house prices vary from suburb to suburb?

How much does preschool cost?  Around here it is about 110-150$ a month for 2 mornings a week.  DD(2) will have another year yet, but I want to make sure I have a handle on how much things will cost.

Does Columbus have a good childrens hospital?  Do they have a childrens ER?

We currently live in a first ring suburb that is super close to everything, and I hate to give up being able to walk/bike places.  I grew up in small college towns, and I like that atmosphere.  I would love to stay in teh TC's, but after trying to stick it out the jobs for DH are just not there.   I have the overall (probably unfair) impression that Ohio is a poor/depressed former steel industry state, tempered with my crazy MIL's super rich horse friends so I guess I am a little confused on what to expect.

I have to admit the scariest thing about the whole move is "how will I actually pack up our house and keep it clean and tidy to sell it".  

[PrettyHippie]

Hello again! I'm going to try to be as helpful as I can! Newark isn't what I would really call rural, but it's not big city at all. I would stay closer to the Columbus area if you're wanting more of the city atmosphere. I'm just the opposite.....get me away from the city and into the country!! Clintonville really is a nice neighborhood. My in-laws live there. It's close to everything you would probably need to get to and it's overall a really safe area. Plus there is a Co-Op that is pretty decent on Calumet.  There are lots of families and lots of children there. I'm sure you would find some friends for you and your kids in relatively little time. The houses are very nice and the area is quite pretty.  In terms of drive time to Granville, I would ESTIMATE it could be about 45 minutes or so. He would probably go up 71N to 161E, or go down to 70E out into Licking County and then hit whatever would take him north. Clintonville is like you said, pretty centrally located to things. I would probably do a Google map search from some point in Clintonville out to Grandville. It would give you different routes and their drive times. Driving in Columbus from what I've been told is in general not too bad.  Now, the standard rush hour times can sometimes get a little nuts, but I think that's the case everywhere.  Right now Columbus driving is a bit more of a pain than normal because there is A LOT of construction going on.  At least it's temporary.  I'm afraid I'm not going to be too much of a help when it comes to housing prices and preschools simply because I don't have much experience with either!  I do know there are many preschools in the Columbus area.  Some are church based but some are also "chain" schools.  I don't want that to sound cheap at all, many are said to be quite good!  Home prices in the Clintonville area would be what I would probably call medium to high.  I would say......oh.....$150,000 and up for a home depending on square footage, lot size, location, etc.  I would start with a house search through a realtors site like RE/MAX just to get started. Columbus does have and EXCELLENT children's hospital.  It's called Nationwide Children's Hospital.  Just do a Google search and you'll find it to check it out.  My husband use to work there and my brother works there now in their lab.  Sometimes getting in to see specialists can take some time simply due to the hospitals popularity and reputation.  Children from all over come to that hospital.  I will say, I do think the "poor/depressed" view of Ohio is a bit unfair.  Yes, there are areas of Ohio that have been hit REALLY hard with the whole economy being the way it is.  There are a lot of very hard working blue collar, factory work families in Ohio.  There are also MANY highly refined, highly intelligent, highly enjoyable parts and people here too.  Now let me make it clear, just because you're blue collar DOES NOT mean you aren't intelligent, refined, or enjoyable!  I just don't want anyone to take what I said the wrong way. It seems a lot of out of state rich people seem to have that flawed mentality of Ohio in my experience.  But see, most of the people here think we're nuts for wanting to move up to northwestern Wisconsin because "all it does is snow."  My mom is from there and we've been there enough to know that yes, winters can be hard but the payoff the rest of the year is awsome.  We're looking at the Pierce County/Saint Croix County area.  I really like the Maiden Rock area, but most of the locations in those counties would suit us.  We just want to be close enough to a hospital for my husband to find work.  There is a hospital in Red Wing, MN that has a job he's looking at.  The TC area isn't too foreign to me...my aunt and uncle live in the Lake Elmo area.  When we're up that way we always try to hit up Stillwater and Hudson, too.  Anyways, I digress.  I hope I've been able to help some.  I'm sure you probably still have a lot of questions.  I mean, who wouldn't when contemplating a moVe to a new state.  I'm dealing with it too just thinking about moving up that way.  Again, please let me know if there is anything else I can do, and Good Luck to you!

[CaroleH]

Hippy summed it all up very well.  Since I am a realtor, I might be able to provide you some information about the housing market. Granville and New Albany are definitely "pricey".

Westerville would be a good choice.  There are some very nice homes 3-4 bedroom, around 2000 square feet for under 200K.  I am also thinking of an area west of Westerville where the homes were mostly built in the 70's and 80's, and this area would probably be more affordable.  It is popular though, and depending on where you live you would get the Worthington or Dublin schools.  Both are very desirable. Skip Newark.  Reynoldsburg and Pataskala will give you a better shot at Granville for commuting.  Not sure how many crunchies are in any of these locations.  Clintonville is probably best for that.  Please get in touch with me for assistance if you decide to make this move, or are still seriously considering it.  I live in Johnstown, which has what you want, even some crunchies.  But we are northeast  of Columbus by about a 20 minute drive.  We border on New Albany.  Good schools!  But you have to go that 20 minutes to get to the edge of the city and add another 10 miuntes or more to get to the downtown, where all the fun places are like museums, the zoo, festivals....all the things a city offers.

Carole Huet, ABR

Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate

614-209-1486

[e-mail]

www.CaroleHuet.com

[Dandelions123]

Hi!!  I'm so excited to run across your post as we may be relocating to Columbus as well (from Pittsburgh PA).  Right now we're looking at the Grove City area, on the south-west side of the city.  I have 3 kids (11, 7, & almost 3).

I'm really interested to hear the responses to your questions! 

[Mizyellow]

Hey I came on here looking for some mamas to meet around the area so hopefully you are moving!

New Albany is pretty money, I live in Gahanna which is right next to NA and we really like it. We are currently looking to move to clintonville but it is pretty expensive and Gahanna schools are far better than any columbus public.

Preschools are about the same $100-150 for 2 days a week.

There are farmers markets EVERYWHERE in the summer/fall but only at the coop in the spring/winter

There is an awesome store called Sprout Soup that has meetups and sells natural baby items. I spend way too much $ in there on a regular.

The AP movement is spreading here, although there are plenty of mainstream parents, you can barely walk down the street without seeing a mama wearing her baby. 

We really love Columbus minus the cold, it would be practically perfect if their gay rights were better :)

[gradstudentmommy]

I was so happy to see your post! We are definitely moving to the Columbus area this summer. I'm doing a year-long internship at OSU for my Ph.D. so I don't know if we'll be there more than a year. That's making our move very stressful. Right now I live in Madison, Wisconsin which I LOVE, except for the weather. My daughter is almost 5 and will be starting kindergarten and I have an 18-month old son.

My DH will be working in Dublin so we're looking at moving there. There seem to be a lot of houses for rent there and since we may only be there for a year, we don't want to buy. I'm hoping I can get a post-doc at OSU so we won't have to move again when the year is up but that's up in the air.

Let's all keep in touch in case we end up near each other!

[OSUvet]

Hi! I have lived in Columbus for 7 years now, am currently finishing up my master's degree at OSU and live just north of campus/borderline with Upper Arlington in a small, not super fancy but not super crunch neighborhood. If there IS a super crunch area in Columbus, I haven't found it. Clintonville may be the closest. But, in all I like ht here. I will try to respond to some of your questions from my experiences below, bolded. PM me if you'd like to talk in more detail but Pretty Hippy probably covered most of it!

Originally Posted by SuzyLee 

Any Columbus area mamas?

DH has a job offer coming in Columbus.  He is from Cleveland (as are my IL's yay for me!) but hasn't lived in OH for 20 years so really, we are both going in blind.  Assuming the offer comes, we are pretty much 100% sure we will take it and move from MN.

Now, here is an airing of my concerns, if anyone has thoughts on them!

1.  The job will be in Granville, which I guess is like a 30 min drive outside of Columbus?  So we are thinking we would like to live in an eastern suburb.  New Albany seems the closest, but it seems super rich/fancy/golf course-y.  Where do the hippies live?  Where are the co-ops?  I'm thinking not in New Albany.

     My good friend who nannies for me lives in a condo in New Albany. It is not a bad little town but probably the best thing about it is the location. Very close to an excellent midwife out of Heath (I assume I am talking about the same one mentioned by PrettyHippy. She's awesome!)

2.  Schools.  DS4 is special needs, currently has an IEP and gets speech/OT/PT.  If I just had "normal" kids I wouldnt worry so much, but we have seen firsthand that living in a "rich" district gets him way better and more services than living in a crap district.  Which makes that whole New Albany thing seem appealing.  OTOH, do I really want my kids going to school with people whose parents can afford an average of 400K house?  Speaking of which how would we ever afford to live there?

     I can't say much on schools yet since my DS is 13mo and we haven't decided yet what we are going to do...

3.  Do you like the Columbus area in general?  What is the good, the bad, and the ugly? 

     I do like Columbus in general. Housing is realatively quite affordable, and in my opinion it is just enough of a city without being too big. The economic depression that is hitting some areas hard doesn't seem to be as big a deal here on average.

4.  Are there lots of crunchy mamas?  I am not super-crunchy, but basically 100% of my current friends are from the API group in the twin cities, so I am very very sad about leaving friends, and I want to make sure I can find a new community.

      There are definitely some crunchy mamas here! For one idea you can check out babywearing groups to find some... I think I found out about them from the cloth diapering/natural parenting store Sprout Soup which is in Clintionville. (www.sproutsoup.com)

5.  Birth.  We are thinking about #3 in the very near feature.  I had a lovely hosp birth with DS4 (hosp has only 12% c/s rate, I had a waterbirth, etc).  HB with DD2.  What is the birth climate in OH as a whole, and columbus specifically?  nat-birth friendly hospitals?  

     I can't speak too much to this either as I had planned a homebirth with said midwife from Heath. We did end up transferring and had a bad hospital experience but that speaks mostly to the poor opinion of midwives in this state (what PrettyHippy said). I have had friends who have been happy with their hospital births here. But, we definitely don't have the most cruncy friendly hospitals from what I know. Not sure that any would actually allow a waterbirth but I don't know for sure.

Oh yes and as Hippie mentioned an excellent childrens hospital which has arms in several locations for urgent care. It is affiliated with OSU so for gradstudentmommy if you have OSU Health insurance for your kids through the grad school, coverage is great!

[Mizyellow]

Mamas that are already here, wanna have a meetup? I am dying to meet some new friends in the area!

[gradstudentmommy]

OSUvet-I will have the OSU insurance. It's a lot pricier than my insurance here at UW-Madison so I'm glad to hear it's good.  Is Upper Arlington part of Columbus or is it a suburb?  A lot of people have recommended that area to me but I haven't been able to find many houses to rent there. Plus, even though I lived in San Francisco for 10 years, I'm a country mouse at heart and prefer not to live too close to cities. Though I love being able to walk places and get to know my neighbors at the local parks and coffee houses. Thanks for the link to Sproutsoup. We have a great store here called www.happybambino.com that has been a great resource for me.

Mizyello-I wish we were there. I'd love to have a meetup!

[OSUvet]

sure! pick a time and place! I work Tues-Wed-Thurs.

[Mizyellow]

Wanna do Firefly cafe on a Monday? This monday is out, i have a mw appt. (thrilling) but maybe next?

[OSUvet]

Sounds good, I am busy this monday also. Next would work, we have been wanting to check out Firefly Cafe. DS is changing up his nap schedule so i'm not sure what time is best but im sure with the new surroundings he will be good for a while no matter what time.

[OSUvet]

gradstudentmommy- Upper arlington is just north of campus, so pretty central. BUT not anything like downtown, more suburb-like. I am a country person as well, and I actually really like Columbus. Very convenient but not very city except for right downtown. Yeah there might not be a ton for rent in UA but I think there are condos?

[gradstudentmommy]

OSUVet- My DH is coming to Columbus the first week in April so I'll have him check out Upper Arlington. I've found a few rentals there but they tend to be pricey and also older homes, often with one bathroom and no washer/dryer. We live in a townhome now and I love it but I'm always nervous about renting apartments/condos because of bad experiences with noisy/rude, chain cigarette-smoking neighbors. My daughter and I both have some sensory issues.

Are you in veterinary school?

[OSUvet]

Originally Posted by gradstudentmommy 
 

Are you in veterinary school?

Good luck, I hope your DH can find an area he likes and something that will work for you guys! I graduated from veterinary school in 2009 and will be finishing up a masters in science and veterinary pathology residency in June :)

[PrettyHippie]

I've really been away from this too long!  It's so nice to see some other local mamas here.  I also think it would be really cool to try to do some type of meet up or at least "get in touch."  We live on a farm 30 minutes south of Columbus so needless to say I'm not up there too much which makes it hard to meet new like-minded moms.  We take part in the Grandview Farmers' Market during the summers and this will be our 4th year. That's probably the most I make it up there!  Occasionally I have to run to Whole Foods for supplements or we go to my in-laws in Clintonville.  My husband works for Ohio State's Medical Center so he's up there everyday.  OSUvet, it's so neat that your're in the vet school at OSU.  My mother actually got her Ph.D there.  She was the first non-DMV to get her Animal Pathology Ph.D through them.  This was back in the early 80's though!  I was also a OSU grad.  I noticed you use a midwife out of Heath.  Just out of pure curiosity, who do you use?  We use a midwife in Heath as well named Kathy Mitchell and I'm just wondering if we have the same one!  I actually see her Thursday for our next little bundle.  Mizyellow, as a huge Beatles fan I have to tell you I LOVE your kids names.  So neat!  I've passed Sprout Soup a couple times and I've been really wanting to check it out.  I'm glad to hear you say it's a good place.  Gradstudentmommy, we're actually looking at moving up your way!  We love Wisconsin, snow and all.  My mom is from up there so I guess it's kind of in the blood.  Oh, we actually have OSU's health insurance and it isn't too bad.  I wish they were a little more flexible with some things though.  For example, if for any reason I would have to have the baby I'm carrying now in-hospital (we're planning another homebirth) I HAVE to have him/her at OSU or they won't cover it.  No choice.  It would have to be a true emergency for them to cover another hospital and even then they're picky.  I would never choose OSU to have a baby based on some stories I've been told my other mom's, they're a teaching hospital which gives them more freedom to do things I would not be too happy with, and my DH just spend the last month in and out of their hospital due to the doctors screwing things up and not communicating.  He was only suppose to be out of work for a week from a simple out-patient procedure.  It's been a MESS. Now, our general practice doc. who sees me, my DH, DD, and DS isn't an OSU doctor yet she's in-network.  Just make sure you check on everything.  I'll try to check back in the next couple days.  Again, it's good to see some other local mamas!

[anjsmama]

 everyone! Been here 9 months and still no real friends to speak of, since DH's schedule has changed once every few weeks this whole time! Now we're finally settled in a groove. We currently live in Canal Winchester and we're moving to (buying in) Pickerington next month. I would love a meet up!  If you end up meeting next Monday, I'm in! My kiddos are 3.5 y/o and 14 months. I would love to see some other adults! Also, Canal is pretty much anti-crunchy so it would be nice just to see some people who aren't shocked when I'm nursing my 14 m/o babe! I love Clintonville, for those who are moving in, but we're more country-ish and wouldn't want to live so close to the city. 

Gradstudentmommy - We live in an apartment here, and my DS and I both have sensory issues. The past 9 months have been no sleep, high stress insanity. Our neighbors never stop.. the cars in the parking lot, the fighting upstairs and next to us, smoking cigarettes outside and jumping on the stairs.. it literally never stops. I absolutely cannot wait to get back to a house next month... we will never do this again! I'm going to just sit on my deck like this  the whole first day....

[gradstudentmommy]

Anjsmama-I'm so sorry to hear about your experience living in your apartment. That's just awful! You mentioned just about EVERY one of my fears of apartment living. We definitely need a house, even if it's costs more. I'll give up cable TV and professional haircuts if I have to! How long a drive is Pickerington from Columbus? I would love to live more in the country but with the price of gas, we probably can't afford a super long commute. I'm sure not all apartments are bad but you just never know what you're going to get and a year is a long time to be miserable. I'm so happy you're getting your own place, and with a deck too. Woohoo! Just in time for the nice weather.